On the Ground at Dreamforce 2013 – Lessons Learned on Day 2

And so it goes on. It’s Day 2, and Dreamforce is now in full swing. Here are some quick tips to remember from the second day.

1. Find a comfortable place to watch the Mark Benioff Keynote.

Unless you want to get in line at 7am you probably won’t get a spot in the main hall for the keynote. And if you do you will likely be in the back and have a poor view (this happened to me at the Marissa Mayer keynote).

But that’s okay – the keynote is streamed in hotels, at watch parties and online. Carly and I went to the Marketo watch party. There we were fed, had a great view, and got to interact with those around us without feeling cramped.

2. Listen to Benioff.

I’ve heard in prior years “awesome” was his favorite word. At DF13 it was “phenomenal.” I swear I heard it north of 100 times in the extra-long keynote. Maybe next year it will be “outstanding.”

All jokes aside, Benioff is a revolutionary thinker and he always has something interesting to say about what is happening next at Salesforce. Be sure not to miss this one.

3. Bring a rain jacket and/or umbrella.

Yesterday the rain started drizzling. I’m really glad I brought a jacket. Even if you forget one – there are sure to be some umbrellas around as swag so you don’t get wet walking around the campus. Grab one and don’t drown.

4. Make dinner reservations well in advance (especially for a big group).

This one speaks for itself. There are 135,000 humans at Dreamforce – and they all need to eat. If you want to be at a buzzed-about place, you better have a reservation before you get to San Francisco.

My personal recommendations for Dreamforce dining would be AQ, tbd, or Nopa. Be sure to plan ahead.

5. Read the description of the sessions.

I made the mistake of going to a session because its title looked super-interesting. What I didn’t foresee is that would be a sales pitch for work.com – a platform we don’t use at FullContact. Although I understand Salesforce’s desire to sell (we all do – we’re at a Salesforce conference, right?), I just didn’t get anything out of it and wasted an hour of my time.

Next time I’ll do my research.

Overall, Dreamforce has been a whirlwind and is going by faster than I could even imagine. I will make sure to check in tomorrow and let you know some other tips and tricks for getting the most out of Dreamforce.

Cheers,

Lauren

Don’t miss the other posts in our Complete Survival Guide to Dreamforce: